Hollywood and the Military

Drawn from the Lawrence H. Suid Collection, an exhibit in the Stephen J. Kerbs Exhibit Area on the third floor of Lauinger Library explores the relationship between the Hollywood film industry and the United States armed services. A historian, Mr. Suid has published several books and numerous articles on that topic. His books include Guts & Glory: Great American War Movies (1978), Air Force (1983), The Army's Nuclear Power Program (1990), and Sailing on the Silver Screen (1996), all of which are part of Lauinger Library's collection. His articles have appeared in the Journal of American History, Naval History, and a host of other periodicals. In 2002, he will publish a second edition of Guts & Glory, incorporating his research on recent films, including Saving Private Ryan, Pearl Harbor, Black Hawk Down, and many others.

Lawrence Suid donated his collection of research materials to the Lauinger Library, Special Collections Division, which curates the collection and makes it available to scholars. The Suid Collection focuses on the interplay between Hollywood and the military. It includes correspondence, research files, drafts of Suid's writings, hundreds of taped and transcribed interviews, photographs, and other valuable documents. Issues such as military cooperation with filmmakers and military influence on scriptwriting and production decisions are examined in detail with producers, writers, directors, and military liaison personnel from 1945 to the present.

The items on display represent a selection from this vast collection. The exhibit provides a glimpse of the ongoing complex relationship between Hollywood and our armed forces.